Pete Hegseth, who, this past Tuesday, was narrowly confirmed to be  U.S. Secretary of Defense -- despite numerous rape and assault accusations -- has been called “one of the most extreme far-right figures ever nominated to a cabinet post, at least in modern memory” by Matthew D. Taylor, senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies.

Hegseth is not a lone individual right wing nut; he is a devoted acolyte of a radically right-wing church that that has gone from a fringe movement within conservative Christianity to gaining national attention in the last decade among Southern Baptists, one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations. It teaches that women were created to be men's submissive helpmeets, and certainly not to have jobs, especially military jobs, outside of the home. Doug Wilson, its leader, whom Hegseth has called his mentor, promotes a rigid patriarchal belief system that doesn't believe in the separation of church and state, supports taking away the right to vote from most women, barring non-Christians from holding office and criminalizing the LGBTQ community.”

Segment 1

Amanda Marcotte has written an article entitled: "Pete Hegseth's mother begged him to "get some help" — he joined a misogynist church instead" for Salon magazine, in which she details all of the above and much more! 

She will be our guest on Joy of Resistance this Thursday and will share her research on Hegseth's connection to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Church (CREC); and the Association of Classical Christian Schools run by CREC, to which he sends his children; the submission of women that CREC demands of married women and the ambitions of its leader, Doug Wilson for a takeover of the U.S.

Segment 2

President Joe Biden on the Friday, January 17, 3 days before leaving office, and under enormous pressure by a months-long well orchestrated campaign to publish the already-ratified Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) before leaving office -- finally did make  a statement. However, his statement created much confustion as to its actual meaning. Biden did NOT "publish" the ERA, but "affirmed" that it was ALREADY part of the Constitution, leading to many different interpretations as to what this would mean legally about the ERA and what the next steps might be to put it to use for women. Some, such as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand issued a statement saying that we should just go ahead and bring cases based on the ERA already being a constitutional amendment.

In the opinion of Professor Laurence Tribe, Esq.: since publication of amendments is not actually mentioned Article 5 of the Constitution--which describes the process of amending the Constitution--publication is not a necessary step, but rather a holdover from a time before the internet and other means of mass communication that we now depend on to get the word out -- so President Biden is correct.

Acclaimed lawyer Wendy Murphy, who has twice brought suit against the Biden Administration to get it to publish the ERA will be our guest for this segment. She has a different interpretation, one which brings in the Skirmetti case, now before the Supreme Court and says that complications of this case actually doom the ERA.

BIO'S OF GUESTS

 Wendy Murphy

Wendy Murphy teaches Sexual Violence and Law Reform at New England
Law|Boston, where she also co-directs the Women's and Children's
Advocacy Project (WCAP).

On January 7, 2020, WCAP filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts to ensure validation of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
in the aftermath of ratification by Virginia as the 38th and last state needed to
add the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Wendy is an impact litigator whose work in state and federal courts has
changed the law to better protect the constitutional and civil rights of abused
women and children.

Her  litigation in the area of campus sexual assault, beginning in the early 1990s, includes groundbreaking victories against Harvard College in 2002, and Harvard Law School and Princeton University in 2010, which cases led to widespread awareness and reforms, and produced the well-known April 2011 Dear Colleague Letter. (Obama Admin).

She has worked for NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News. She regularly provides legal analysis for network and cable news
programs. 

Amanda Marcotte

Amanda Marcotte is a senior politics writer at Salon and the author of "Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself." Follow her on Bluesky @AmandaMarcotte and sign up for her biweekly politics newsletter, Standing Room Only.

This program will also contain a Feminist News Segment and topical music.